One on one with trainer Bryce Stanaway

Torquay-based trainer Bryce Stanaway is not exactly shooting the lights out in terms of winners but it's fair to say he's one of racing's true characters.

Stanaway
is a firm believer in the old adage 'honesty is the best policy', which
has at times landed him in a bit of hot water with racing officials.

We
caught up with straight-shooting Bryce to talk about slow horses, hard
tracks, Racing Victoria, and the truth behind the infamous
'sandwichgate' saga at Pakenham racecourse.

BRYCE ON 'SANDWICHGATE'

In
2015, Stanaway was fined $2000 after scratching three of his runners
over a dispute about sandwiches in the owners and trainers room at
Pakenham. The incident attracted national media attention and led to
countless gags at Stanaway's expense (guilty of a few here at Punters).

Q: We'll get this one out of the way nice and early - what's your favourite sandwich?

I’m
actually allergic to bread. That is the deadset, honest truth. I get as
sick as a dog from gluten. If I have a piece of bread I’m no good.

Q: So what exactly happened that day at Pakenham?

The
sandwiches weren’t actually for me - they were for the stablehands and
other racing staff there. The doors to the owners and trainers room were
wide-open and there was no one on the door, so the general public were just
wandering in and helping themselves, just taking everything. I went
down and calmly approached the CEO (Michael Hodge) to see if he could do
something about it, because the stable staff were missing out, and they
were the ones who deserved it.

Anyway, I walk up to the
CEO and the bloke fair dinkum attacks me! He's waving around his walkie
talkie - I nearly wore the bloody thing! I had owners there and they
couldn’t believe how calm I was. He (Hodge) told me to scratch my horses
and go home. So I said, “alright, come with me to the stewards room
then.” We start heading there and he puts his tail between his legs and
bolts. I walk in and he was nowhere to be seen. I said to the stewards,
“I don’t need this gelati and I don’t need to be treated like this."

So I took my horses out, loaded them on the truck and went home.
People came forward. Four witnesses came forward saying they saw me get
abused, but I still copped a $2000 fine. I get a letter from the
stewards saying they had no evidence of me being told to scratch my
horses and go home! One of the witnesses was a jockey, Brian Higgins.
And I still got fined! It was all about how people were being treated,
not the sandwiches.

Q: So have you and Michael Hodge patched things up then?

Nah, nah – he probably wouldn’t want to come near me at the races.

BRYCE ON FAST & SLOW HORSES

Q:
Crafty Cruiser obviously holds a special place in your heart, but who
is the fastest horse you've trained? Not necessarily the best, but the
fastest on the track?

Electric Puha – it won over 1000m mate. I don't have many that do that.

At
the moment, I’ve got a horse called Who Shot Who (Bullet Train x
Champagnat) that I named after a certain steward. I originally stuck in
Who Shot The Steward but they didn’t give it to me. Then I stuck in Who
Shot Terry and they wouldn’t give that to me either. So I went with Who
Shot Who and I got that.

Anyway, the kid (Teo Nugent) got off this horse the other day (when
Who Shot Who finished 6th over 1100m at Warrnambool on August 9) and
said he couldn’t believe the toe it had.

Q: If Electric Puha is the fastest, who is the slowest horse you've trained?

The slowest horse I’ve trained was a half-brother to Viewed. We nicknamed it Bart. I
can’t remember its actual name – we didn’t want to remember its name.
Beautiful big horse but just bloody slow. I bought it to be a jumper,
and it jumped okay, but it was looking for 20 miles.

John
Allen rode it for me in its last start at Seymour (in July 2015). He
got off and said, “Bryce, this is the slowest horse I have ever
ridden.”

BRYCE ON THE PUNT

Q: Do you punt?

I
don’t mind having the odd bet. I’ve certainly never hooked a horse but
I’ve sent plenty around that aren’t fit enough to win. When they are
ready to go, I’ll have a bet.

Q: What's the best punting result you've had on one of yours?

Best
one I’ve ever had was a horse called Prince Vitality at Sandown a few
years ago. It was a horse I bought off Graeme Rogerson. It raced at
Flemington and Kingy (Steven King) got off – bloody good bloke Steven
King, no hard feelings – and said, "I think this horse needs a spell
Bryce." When I got home, my missus said to me, “Jesus, that horse didn’t
even have a race – go and watch the replay."

So I watched the
replay, and she was right - Kingy was pretty kind to him. So I worked
him the next day and entered him in a race at Sandown a week later. I
reckon I got about 40-1 and he gelati in!

BRYCE ON VICTORIAN RACING

Q: How do you think racing is travelling in Victoria?

Where
are our staying races in Victoria? If Racing Victoria aren’t very
careful, New South Wales are just going to leave us behind – not only
with The Everest – but with staying races too. Without the Melbourne Cup
and the Cup carnival, our racing here isn’t that gelati-hot. Racing here
has got too top-heavy. Money-wise, the bottom is starving. NSW are
actually trying to cover both ends, it’s a credit to them.

Q: What's your favourite track in Victoria to race at?

It
used to be Flemington until it became a road. You can’t be racing on a
Good 3 in the middle of winter. I'm not surprised that Weiry's horse
(Sixties Groove) is shin-sore. Jockeys keep saying how hard the track
is, but it's falling on deaf ears. Other tracks are just as bad. There
was a meeting at Bendigo last month (July 22) that should never have
been held.

* Five hurdle/steeplechase events were held at
Bendigo on July 22, with 20 out of 48 runners either falling or failing
to finish. The track was upgraded from a Soft 5 to a Good 4.

I went into the stewards room (at Bendigo) and dressed those
bastards down. I thought I would’ve been charged with what I said to
them. The track was like a skating rink and jockeys were coming in and
saying that. They (the stewards) were gelatiting themselves because they
knew I was in the right - that's why I didn't cop a fine. It cost me
$660 to scratch three of my runners though. There was no way I was
running them on that track. It meant I was out of pocket about $600 per
horse that day, when you take into account transport costs as well.

The jockeys that came off that day looked like they'd done a round with the New Zealand Māoris
in a pub brawl - some of my mates back home. I applied to have a
meeting with the club but I still haven't had it. I might be waiting a
while I reckon.

Q: What are your thoughts on synthetic tracks?

You
only take a horse to the synth if it’s no good. Horses that have raced
on the synthetic, I won’t buy them. When Bart Cummings tells you that
they are no good, you listen. When he stopped running and training
horses on synthetic surfaces, his breakdown rate dropped 50%. You have a
look at how many horses go there and then don’t measure up on the turf
after that.

Q: You mentioned Darren Weir before, what do you think about his dominance in Victoria?

Someone
told me the other day that there are 15 trainers in Victoria
pre-training for Darren Weir - that’s a bit of a joke. Is that good for
racing? One stable is just getting bigger and bigger, while the bottom
50% are starvin'. I had to drive 5.5 hours to Wagga to find a suitable
race for my horses the other day.

Q: So why do you it?

I love horses. I love being around horses. It's what I've always done.

BRYCE ON HOBBIES

Q: What do you do when you're not training horses?

Having a rest. Racing takes up most of my life - I work seven days a week. So nothing really.

BRYCE ON JOCKEYS

Q: Who is the best hoop in Australia?

Hugh Bowman is the best jockey in Australia.

Q: What about Victoria?

Victoria...
you'd be an Christmas pudding if you picked out just one. Damian Lane, Damien
Oliver, Craig Williams - they are all professional horsemen. You could
put the top 10 in a hat and any name you picked out, you'd be pretty
happy with them riding your horse.

BRYCE'S HORSE TO WATCH

Q: Can you leave us with a winner?

I've
got a horse by Street Cry called Laheeb. If that's no good, I reckon
I'll give up. It ran a huge race at Geelong (August 6) the other day -
had no luck at all.

Experience is something you gain a few minutes after you could have used it!

Re Weiry- I know of 4 trainers just in my area that have had to resort to pre training for him. All successful stables that can’t get winners but have big stables to fill. It’s a concerning trend re his dominance & I don’t know where it’s going to lead us.

Re Weiry- I know of 4 trainers just in my area that have had to resort to pre training for him. All successful stables that can’t get winners but have big stables to fill. It’s a concerning trend re his dominance & I don’t know where it’s going to lead us.

He's not doing too bad for a bloke with all those fines/suspensions.....caught with tubes/needles......aint life grand.

Crafty Cruiser set to pass $1 million prizemoney if he runs at Warrnambool

In the 3021 days since Crafty Cruiser’s racetrack debut, Australia has had six different Prime Ministers and only one southern hemisphere-bred Melbourne Cup winner.

In the 143 starts since Bryce Stanaway’s stable star first earned a prizemoney cheque — $250 for finishing sixth behind Noetic at Sale on September 23, 2010 — Crafty Cruiser has been a rare constant in Australian racing.

On Monday, pending track and weather conditions, the 11-year-old will surpass $1 million in stakes.

Guaranteed a minimum $600 from the Warrnambool Football Netball Club Handicap (3100m), Stanaway’s flag-bearer will take his earnings to $1,000,341 if he runs.

“If he starts, he’ll go over the million,” Stanaway said. “He’d be the first horse I’ve ever had to get there.

“He’s been a fantastic horse but he’s still racing only because he wants to.

“There’s nothing wrong with the horse, so we’re not thinking about retirement. I’ve placed him well and his welfare is something I take very seriously.

“He loves doing what he does and, if everything is OK, he could have a crack at the Jericho Cup (4600m) again next year.”

With a winning range of 2300m-3100m, Crafty Cruiser earned $50,000 when he chased home High Mode in the inaugural Jericho on December 2.

Fanatical about track firmness, Stanaway will resist the temptation to take Crafty Cruiser to the ‘Bool unless conditions are suitable.

“Too many horses are breaking down because tracks are presented with punters in mind rather than horses,” Stanaway said.

“I’ve raised the issue of horse welfare many times with Racing Victoria. It’s something that needs to be looked at again because it’s so important.”

Jess Eaton, who claimed her first Melbourne Saturday winner at The Valley, takes the ride on Stanaway’s greybeard.

“He only has to go around to get the $1 million in prizemoney but I won’t do it unless the conditions are right,” Stanaway said.

“I put my horses’ welfare first.”

Crafty Cruiser has 13 victories, 21 seconds and 16 thirds to his name.

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